afternoon.
“Oh boy, Christmas surprise.” I went to the bathroom to get ready. “I can’t wait!”
“YOU’RE STILL NOT GOING to tell me where we’re going?” I asked, glancing at Grevar as the cityscape of Voran floated under our aircraft.
“No.” He shook his head.
“It must be something really fancy.” I smoothed the silky material of the gorgeous, ivory-colored dress over my knees. It had been a part of the surprise. Grevar presented it to me this morning, along with a pair of gold, crystal-studded sandals to wear with it.
“You’ll see.” He was wearing his dress uniform, his horns polished to a shine.
The aircraft started to descend, pulling over in front of a large group of glass domes. The bright flowers of vine garlands and the shimmer of fluttering colorful birds and insects inside made the domes appear as if they were twinkling with bursts of color.
“What is this place?” I’d assumed he would be taking me to some nice restaurant for brunch or something. This venue looked so much bigger than any of restaurants I’d been to in Voran.
“Come.” He climbed out of the aircraft, helping me to get out. His face turned serious, subduing my mood, too.
The doors from the parking platforms slid open, and we entered under a huge glass dome filled with music, flowers, and people—so many people—dressed in the most beautiful, formal wear.
They all turned to us as we walked in, lifting their drink glasses in greeting.
Stopping my gaze at each face individually, I realized I personally knew most if not all of them.
There were the women I’d met at my parenting class, who had since become my very good friends. The employees of my bakery, Earth Girl’s Desserts, waved at me from the crowd. Alcus Hecear and a few more members of the Liaison Committee were here, too. As were Governor Drustan and his wife.
Shula gave me a friendly smile when our gazes crossed. She and I had never become close friends, but we held a mutual respect for each other and managed to get along well enough for the sake of the people we cared about in our lives.
Last Christmas, Grevar had informed me that he had officially added “Daisy” to the names of our two boys.
“So everyone would know that they have two mothers,” he’d said. “One who gave them birth, and one who became their closest family.”
Of course, I’d cried at his words. The fact that he didn’t mind his future mighty warriors sporting the word “Daisy” in their names was beyond endearing.
“Are all these people here for us?” I asked Grevar, smiling and waving at everyone in the room.
He didn’t get a chance to reply.
“Daisy!” I heard a very familiar female voice. “My baby girl.”
“Mom?” My knees nearly buckled, and tears sprung to my eyes when my own mother rushed out of the crowd to greet me. “You’re here? How?”
“Grevar got us to Neron.” She squeezed me in a hug then kissed my face at least a dozen times.
I managed to glance at Grevar under the shower of her attention.
“You did?”
He gave me a wide smile, looking rather smug and proud of himself.
“He is such a charming young man, Daisy. You’re so lucky.”
“When did you arrive?” I asked Mom, hugging her back.
All of this felt like a dream.
“Oh, just a couple of days ago. We’ve been staying in a really nice hotel, getting to know this place a little. Grevar wanted it to be a surprise for you.”
“Well I am surprised,” I mumbled, flabbergasted. “So much so, that I’d ask you to pinch me. Except that if it’s really a dream I don’t want to wake up.” I hugged her tighter. “I missed you, mom.”
“We all missed you so much, too. How are you feeling, baby?” She patted my belly. “I can’t wait to meet my new granddaughter.”
“Are you staying here until her birth, then?”
“Of course we are. Oh, Dad is here, too, and Lily with Max and their children. We all are here,” she chatted. “This was such an amazing opportunity to fly to another planet to visit you. We all wanted to come. Lily chose to stay up during the flight. She said she got a lot of work done. Max too. The rest of us slept. Look!” She patted her cheeks, with a soft giggle. “I’m five months older, with no extra wrinkles to show for it.”
My head was spinning from her chatter. Dad always said I took after her in that, but I didn’t think I could ever compete with her speed of talking.
“Where are all of them?” I turned around, looking for other members of my family.
“Lily and Max are over there, by the bar.” My sister and her husband had already spotted us and were making their way to us through the crowd. “And Dad?” Mom turned around, too, searching with her gaze. “The last time I saw him, he was playing with Olvar and Zun. Adorable little boys. They made him keep score while they were wrestling...”
“Oh, we won’t see him any time soon, then, if the twins have claimed him for themselves.” Grevar chuckled.
“And the boys are here, too?” I pivoted his way. “You managed to get them out of school early, without telling me?”
He grinned wider. “It was all a surprise, remember?”
“Right.” The amount of planning he’d put into it was astounding. Grevar took everything he did very seriously. He must have approached this like a complex military operation.
His father, the retired General Rufut Kyradus made his way to us through the crowd. “Son. Daughter.”
I smiled wide, spotting him, and didn’t mind a bit when he grabbed my ears and placed a quick smooch on my face before doing the same to his son.
“Congratulations, children,” he said with a serious expression, though his firm mouth quivered a little.
“Thank you, but... Congratulations on what?” I moved my gaze from him to Grevar.
“Merry Christmas.” After rummaging in his pocket, Grevar took out a small leather box.
My heart skipped a beat as he lowered himself down to one knee.
“Daisy Grevar Kyradus,” he said flipping the lid open to display a rose-gold ring, with a sunny yellow stone inside it. “You’re the love of my life. Will you continue being my wife?”
I smiled so wide, my mouth hurt, even as tears rushed to my eyes. So many emotions flooded through me at once. Love. Joy. Happiness.
“Yes.” I nodded, wiping at the tears with the back of my hand. “A million times yes.”
Everyone cheered and clapped.
Slipping the ring on my finger, Grevar got up then took me in his arms.
“I love you.” He gave me a tender kiss, pressing me to his chest.
“I love you, too.” I kept smiling, melting into his embrace. “You are my dream man, Grevar. You keep making all my dreams come true. Even the ones I didn’t know I had.”
THE END
Next in My Holiday Tails Series
MY TINY GIANT
During a mission on planet Tragul, I have the misfortune to get stranded with Lieutenant Agan Drankai, the most arrogant prick in the entire alien army of Ravils. I even happen to save his life during the combat. But the big, tough Agan isn’t too pleased about being saved by a “tiny” human female.
When he and I end up separated from the rest, we get captured and brought to a secret lab supposedly operated by our allies. A rogue scientist performs an illegal experiment on Agan, which finally allows the haughty lieutenant to get a taste of his own medicine.
The tough guy is now no bigger than my palm.
Did he hate to be saved by a woman before? Now, he literally has to be carried back to his army base by one.
And the safest way for me to do that is to stuff him in my bra.
Despite his small size, Agan’s ego remains as big as ever, but so are his confidence, courage, and loyalty. The better I get to know him, the more I find his “little self” growing on me.
COMING JANUARY 2021
More by Marina Simcoe
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Madame Tan’s Freakshow
Call of Water
Madness of the Moon
Power of Rage
Demons, Complete Series
Demon Mine
The Forgotten
Grand Master
The Last Unforgiven - Cursed
The Last Unforgiven - Freed
Stand Alone Novels Set in Demons World
The Real Thing
To Love A Monster
Midnight Coven Author Group
Wicked Warlock (Cursed Coven)
SCIENCE-FICTION ROMANCE
Dark Anomaly Trilogy
Gravity
Power
Explosion
My Holiday Tails
Married To Krampus
My Tiny Giant
Standalone Novels
Experiment
Enduring (Valos Of Sonhadra)
About the Author
MARINA SIMCOE LIKES to write love stories with characters, who may or may not be entirely human, because she firmly believes that our contemporary world could always use a little bit of the extraordinary.
She has lots of fun exploring how her out-of-this-world characters with their own beliefs, values, and aspirations fit into our every-day life.
She lives in Canada with her very own grumpy brute, their three little kids, and a cat, who is definitely out of this world.
For updates on her future books please visit Marina Simcoe Author page on Facebook or www.marinasimcoe.com.
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